STEVE AUSTIN:
Does Senator George Brandis, Queensland Member of the Cabinet and Australia’s Attorney-General, hold the Prime Ministers full confidence given what occurred overnight with Australia’s Solicitor-General, his resignation? This is the Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER:
He certainly does, he absolutely does.
STEVE AUSTIN:
Why, given that the Solicitor-General of Australia has resigned - apparently the first ever time this has occurred in 100 years, a century?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well look it’s often that people who are working together can’t get on and the Solicitor-General has done the right thing, as George has noted, and he’s resigned. But I thank Justin Gleeson for his service as Solicitor-General and the Attorney-General is doing a very good job as well. So it’s a pity that they – the relationship broke down, but that does happen in other circumstances and I think the Solicitor-General’s taken the right course of action.
STEVE AUSTIN:
It’s extraordinary that two highly educated, high profile professional men, can’t build a working relationship in such an important role for the nation.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well you’re free to reflect on that but the important thing is that the right decision has been taken and the more important issue above all, is that my Government is focusing on the issues that matter to all Australians and I’m up here in Brisbane talking about infrastructure, focusing on the big infrastructure challenges for Brisbane City and indeed meeting this morning with the Brisbane City Council’s City Cabinet to talk about their vision for better transport, better integrated transport solutions in Brisbane.
STEVE AUSTIN:
One further question then; you seem to cop a lot of problems from your Queensland Cabinet Ministers, George Brandis, Peter Dutton and Stewart Robert who is still under investigation. Do they cause you particular grief?
PRIME MINISTER:
We’ve got a great team from Queensland, both in the Ministry and on the backbench. And I am delighted to be here working with them this week.
STEVE AUSTIN:
You’re here holding Federal Cabinet and today’s newspapers are reporting that you are going to move to shut down anti-coal activists. Why shut them down?
PRIME MINISTER:
The important thing for Australia and for Queensland is that we continue development, we continue the investment in the infrastructure, in the resources sector and elsewhere such as in Brisbane - here where we’re talking about public transport. We continue that investment in a way that delivers the ongoing economic growth and the jobs that we want for ourselves and for our children and grandchildren.
Now what we need to achieve with resource projects is that environmental issues are thoroughly investigated, determined, but they’re determined in a timely fashion. Nobody wants to take shortcuts on environmental issues, least of all me, I can assure you of that. But there has been far too much delays so it’s the question – it’s not a question of whether environmental issues should be ignored or put to one side, they should be absolutely in the centre. I mean I used to be the Environment Minister years ago, I’m very familiar.
STEVE AUSTIN:
So what are you going to do exactly, just shutdown opposition to things like the Adani Carmichael mine?
PRIME MINISTER:
No what we will do, we had some legislation in the last Parliament which we put up to the Senate, it was rejected and what the Minister will do is talk to other parties, including the Labor Party, where we have had some common ground in the past on seeking to ensure that we can streamline environmental reviews, so that we can get quicker decisions. Now that may be a quicker decision that says no to a project, it may be a quicker decision that says yes to a project, but the problem at the moment is that we’re not making these decisions fast enough because they are being unreasonably delayed.
So again, I stress it is not a question of shortcutting environmental analysis or environmental consideration. The environmental analysis must be thorough, it must be complete, but we’ve got to reach these decisions on development sooner.
STEVE AUSTIN:
So does the Adani Carmichael project have the full support of the Federal Government?
PRIME MINISTER:
At this stage it has – I can say that it has all of the Federal approvals that it needs at this stage it is very much in the hands of the state, that’s my understanding.
STEVE AUSTIN:
Alright, so the project – there’s no impediment to the project going ahead other than what you see as anti-coal activists and you are talking with the Opposition federally about doing something to shut down lawful protests.
PRIME MINISTER:
This is not – we’re not talking about one project in isolation. This has been an issue – if you talk to developers, if you talk to investors, this has been an issue across Queensland, across Australia that the processes for getting approval take too long. It’s one of the issues that affects housing affordability, that it takes too long for developers to get approval. There is too much red tape, too much delay – and again I stress, planning approvals must be thoroughly assessed, environmental analysis must be thoroughly done, but we need to do it in a more timely fashion because delay is often the equivalent of a denial.
STEVE AUSTIN:
Now the resources industry and their lobby group here in Queensland, the Queensland Resources Council says we should be encouraging the export of Queensland coal because it is some of the cleanest coal in the world. It burns at a far cleaner rate, less sulphur etc. Is that how you see it?
PRIME MINISTER:
We have a global commitment to reduce our emissions. There is a – we have a commitment in Australia which is part of a global agreement that was signed in Paris. And coal is going to be an important part of our energy mix, there’s no question about that for many, many, many decades to come, on any view.
So the reality is, that Australia’s coal compared to that from other countries is relatively clean. The fact is if we stop all of our coal exports tomorrow, you would simply have more coal exported from other countries like Indonesia, like Columbia, like China, that would be filling the gap. So the answer – trying to strangle the Australian coal industry is not going to do anything for global, you know, to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions.
STEVE AUSTIN:
I’m talking with Australia’s Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull. I’m Steve Austin, this is 612 ABC Brisbane.
You said earlier on that you were meeting with the Brisbane City Council today to look at some of their transport projects, you indicated that there would be some sort of federal support for their metro project in the city put up at the last local government election by Lord Mayor Graham Quirk.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well what we are doing is providing $10 million for the purpose of a thorough analysis of all of the options relating to the Cross River Rail.
STEVE AUSTIN:
So that’s a state government project, Cross River Rail.
PRIME MINISTER:
Just let me go on Steve.
What we need to do and the state government obviously is part of this and we want the city government to be part of this too, is a long term integrated transport solution of which Cross River Rail will undoubtedly be part.
We want to look at the interface with the Brisbane Metro proposal. Our aim is to get all the partners on board, including the city council and look for the options for the states delivery of it, and look at the urban outcomes in terms of greater amenity, in terms of greater housing development, greater business development. To look at the whole picture in an integrated way, because the important thing with these projects is obviously to get on with them – we want to accelerate the pace of development – but we want to make sure that it is thoroughly planned, so the $10 million commitment we’re making will enable that planning work and analysis to be done.
STEVE AUSTIN:
Now the State Government is interpreting this as that you are fully supportive of the Cross River Rail project because you’re now on the feasibility panel and you’re putting up $10 million of public money to look at it. Is this a correct interpretation that you, the Federal Government is on board fully and completely with Cross River Rail.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well we are certainly on board for an integrated transport solution which includes the Cross River Rail, but the business case that the state government has provided is still being investigated or analysed by Infrastructure Australia and the Infrastructure Department. But you know we have to get beyond the political slogans here. This is Australia’s third biggest city. It is the most rapidly growing capital city, it is vital, it’s got transport issues and you can read about them in the paper today. What we need to do is ensure that we get the investment put in place, it clearly is going to need a Cross River Rail solution – I know there’s been some political controversy here, not so much about the project, but about the timing of it and when it would be needed and its integration with other transport solutions such as that which the Brisbane City Council has proposed.
What we want to do is make sure that we work in partnership with the state and local government that we ensure that the funding that is provided by state, federal and local, is done in an integrated way that supports the best outcomes for the people of Brisbane. It is critically important; this is the key element, the key concept in my cities policy that we must have federal, state and local government working together. All too often in the past they have had similar, sometimes dissimilar objectives, but they have very often passed like ships in the night. We need to work together, that’s what we will be doing here.
STEVE AUSTIN:
Depending on whose figures you take, it’s roughly a $5 billion project, capital is relatively cheap to borrow at the moment, wouldn’t it be better to get it moving sooner rather than later because construction in Queensland has fallen off a cliff. And so while you’ve got a combination of the availability of engineering resources, cheap – relatively cheap money, wouldn’t it be time to move now rather than later.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well you’re right that there have been declines in the cost of construction following the downturn –inevitable downturn in the mining and construction boom and some projects have come in under budget in recent times. And that’s a very fair point and so – as I said earlier, we are – we want to accelerate development, we want to see this transport development here, this investment undertaken sooner but you’ve got to make sure you get it right and you’ve got to make sure that you get the planning outcome right in terms of the integrated – the way you integrate it with development in the rest of the city, with the way you integrate it with other transport solutions including the proposal, the City Councils Proposal.
STEVE AUSTIN:
Who are you meeting – so Federal Cabinet is meeting in Brisbane this morning, are you meeting the Premier, the Deputy Premier?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well I’m meeting – the Federal Cabinet is obviously meeting but I’m meeting this morning -
STEVE AUSTIN:
The Lord Mayor.
PRIME MINISTER:
With the – I’m meeting the Lord Mayor, Mr Councillor Quirk and his colleagues. And then we’ll be going – we’re having a round table meeting there to talk about their plans and then we’ll be heading in to our own cabinet processes here in Brisbane.
STEVE AUSTIN:
Alright so even though the Federal Cabinet is here, you’re not meeting the Premier as such or the Deputy Premier of Queensland.
PRIME MINISTER:
I’m not meeting them today no, but my colleagues will be caught up in our Cabinet meeting for most of the day.
STEVE AUSTIN:
Alright now before I let you go Prime Minister, I can’t help but note it’s the first day of the Sheffield Shield today, NSW vs. Qld. Is the timing of the Federal Cabinet here a coincidence?
PRIME MINISTER:
It absolutely is a coincidence I can assure you.
STEVE AUSTIN:
So the Cabinets not going to the cricket this afternoon to the Gabba?
PRIME MINISTER:
We’ll be very busy I’m sure. We’ve got plenty of work to do - much and all as I’m sure it will be a great game, I will be focusing on Government business.
STEVE AUSTIN:
Who are you tipping for the Sheffield Shield, Queensland versus NSW.
PRIME MINISTER:
Look I wouldn’t be able to give you a reliable tip on that I’m afraid.
STEVE AUSTIN:
You’re not a cricket tragic like the previous Prime Minister John Howard.
PRIME MINISTER:
No I’m not a cricket tragic like John Howard but I’m sure it will be a good contest.
STEVE AUSTIN:
Prime Minister thanks for your time.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thanks so much.
Ends